Handle attachment.



H. J. MULDER'.

HANDLE ATTAGHMBNT.

APPLICATION FILED un s, 1909.

Patented Jan. 18, 1910.

HENRY J". MULDER, ,OF ALTON, IOWA.

HANDLE ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 18, 1910.

Application filed March 9, 1909. Serial No. 482,232.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY J. MULDER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Alton, in the county of Sioux and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Handle Attachments; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in handle attachments and more particularly to that class adapted to be used in connection with farming implements, such as forks, rakes, etc, and my obj ect is to provide a ferrule for attaching the tines of the fork, or the like, to the handle.

A further object is to provide means for attaching the parts of the ferrule together and at the same time to the handle of the implement and a further object is to provide an adjustable feature, whereby the ferrule may be attached to handles of various sizes.

Other objects and advantages will be hereiuafter referred to and more particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this application, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fork, showing my improved ferrule attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a detail longitudinal sectional view through the lower end of the handle, showing the ferrule applied thereto in full lines and disengaged therefrom in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view through the handle and adjustable part of the ferrule. Fig. 42 is a detail perspective view of the lower end of the ferrule as applied to use, and, Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the upper end of the ferrule as applied to use.

Referring to the drawings in which similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, 1 indicates a handle, such as is commonly used in connection with forks, rakes or the like, to the lower end of which is attached a fork 2, said .fork consisting of tines 3, and a shank 4.

As is the usual practice, the shank 4: is introduced into the end of the handle and to prevent the handle from splitting, a socket 5 is introduced around that end of the handle in which the shank 4 is entered and as the handles sometimes shrink to such an extent as to cause the shank to fit loosely therein, I provide means for positively locking the fork in engagement with the handle. To this end, I provide my improved ferrule 6, which is preferably formed from a continuous strip of metal and bent upon itself, the closed end of the ferrule being formed into a socket 7, which surrounds the horizontal portion of the fork 2, said socket having an opening 8 at its longitudinal center, through which extends one of the tines 8.

The arms 9 and 10 of the ferrule are semi-circular in cross section so that when they are clamped on the handle 1, said arms will entirely surround the handle, the edges of the arms being adapted to telescope with or overlap each other, as best shown in F ig. 3, the edges of the arm 10 passing below the edges of the arm 9 and after the arms have been properly positioned on the. handle, screws, or the like, 11 are introduced through the overlapping edges of the arms and into the handle. The arm 10 is also preferably provided with slots 12, through which the screws 11 extend, whereby the arms can be moved from or toward each other to form a close fit around handles of various sizes.

Should it at any time be desired to remove the fork, the screws 11 are to be removed from the handle and the arms 9 and 10 separated as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, when the ferrule may be removed from engagement with the fork and said fork removed from the handle when desired. It will further be understood that although I have shown the ferrule as applied to use in connection with a fork, the same may be used for holding rakes or similar devices in engagement with their handles and it will likewise be seen that the ferrule may be very cheaply constructed and is practically indestructible.

What I claim is:

A device of the character described comprising a ferrule having a split tubular portion with the edges forming the split adapted to overlap each other, one edge portion of said ferrule having a transverse slot and the other edge portion of said ferrule hav- In testimony whereof I have signed my name to thls specification 1n the presence of 10 two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY J. MULDER.

Witnesses C. V. PIT'rs, G. S. PITTS. 

